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Zork: Grand Inquisitor is a first-person point-and-click adventure game that allows the player to have a 360 degree view of a majority of the pre-rendered location (dubbed "Z-Vision"). Looking up and down is restricted, although possible in some locations, while in other locations, the view is fixed. Like Zork Nemesis, players move around by left clicking the mouse when the cursor changes to an arrow. Players take on the role of three other characters at specific moments to recover important items. When the player character dies, which can occur in certain spots through mis-timed or wrong actions, the game cuts to a computer terminal on which the player's fatal action and its consequences appear in prose form, much in the fashion of the original Zork trilogy, complete with a score and the player's rank.

Items can be viewed by placing them on a special device. Side menus allow quick access to items and spells. Most spells found in the game are added to the player's spell book as they are discovered. Rezrov, throck, obidil and snavig are spells in the game, amongst others, many of which originated in Infocom's original series of Zork and Enchanter games.

Zork: Grand Inquisitor was one of the first computer games to include true closed captioning so that the hearing impaired could play without missing any of the sound effects and spoken dialog in the game.[1]

Much of the game takes place within the Great Underground Empire between various locations, including the magic university of G.U.E. Tech, Hades, the Steppinthrax Monastery, a viewing point above Flood Control Dam #3, and Dalboz's house. In addition, the player visits Port Foozle at the beginning and during an excursion into its past, along with time travel trips to the famous White House of Zork, and the Great Sea, before finishing upon the Flathead Mesa. A fast travel system is provided in the form of a series of teleportation stations within the Underground, that can transport the player between them by inserting a map into the device. In addition, the player can also use the Underground's Subway System to travel between four stations for major locations.

The game takes place during a time when magic fell and disappeared in Zork from around 100 years before the game start. During this time, the Inquisition rose to power through the advancement of technology. Inquisition megaphones were installed to continuously spout propaganda. Any violation of the rules of the Inquisition resulted in a swift and effective punishment known as "totemization" - a process in which a person (or animal) is put through a machine called a Totemizer, which confines their spirit into a small metal can called a "totem," and then seals it for eternity. The punishment was designed by the Frobozz Magic Company as a more effective alternative to the death penalty, until the Totemizer fell into disuse and was locked in a deserted warehouse in Fenshire; the Inquisition found it following the fall of magic and had the Frobozz Electric Company (formerly the Frobozz Magic Company) restore it for their uses.

The game occurs after the events of Zork Nemesis (and contains small references to it), but before the events of Return to Zork. The game makes frequent use of parody, containing numerous references to staples and clichés of the traditional adventure genre.

"AFGNCAAP" - The player, who Dalboz names as "Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally Ambiguous Adventure Person". Arrives in Port Foozle as a Frobozz Vacuum Salesperson, just before curfew is to begin, and becomes embroiled in a quest to restore magic to the world and stop the Grand Inquisitor.

Dalboz of Gurth - A skilled magic-user and the former Dungeon Master of the Underground, until magic disappeared. Discovering magic could return, he attempted to inform Yannick of this but was silenced as a result, to stop him from revealing this fact to anyone else, with his soul trapped in a lantern as a direct result. Journeys with the player as a source of wisdom, and to aid them in restoring magic. Voiced in the game by Michael McKean

Mir Yannick - The Grand Inquisitor, and main antagonist of the game. Seeks to shun and destroy magic completely, replace it with technology, and rule with absolute control over the people of Zork. A former magic student at G.U.E. Tech, who failed miserably due to a deficiency in magic, he is devious, cunning, and ruthless in his pursuit of his goals. He discovered the long-lost Totemizer and rose to the position of Grand Inquisitor and head of the Frobozz Magic Company, which he renamed Frobozz Electric, persecuting all magical beings and magic users. Played in the game by Erick Avari

Y'Gael - The Lost Enchantress of the Empire, who desires to see magic return and the fall of the Inquisition, she aids the player when she cans from a parallel dimension. Played in the game by Jordana Capra

Antharia Jack - A famous adventurer in his time but only on TV, who ran a gambling club in Port Foozle sometime in the past, falling in love with a woman after she beat him at "Strip Grue, Fire, Water". He later converted the club into the port's local pawn shop by the time the game begins. He unwittingly impedes the player's progress at the beginning, but later aids them in trying to stop the Inquisition. Played in the game by Dirk Benedict

Lucy Flathead - A descendant of the Flathead family, gifted with the ability to read minds. Was part of the magic resistance, until she was caught defacing a poster and totemized as a result. Aids the player in finding the artifacts needed to restore magic, after being found in a bin in the Inquisition's "Perils of Magic" exhibit. Played in the game by Amy D. Jacobson

Griff - A somewhat small, timid, and cowardly species of dragon, caught by the Inquisition quite easily after failing to bluff his way to freedom and fainting at the sight of a guard's sword. Totemized by them, he is found by the player at the Underground's Crossroads, and aids them in recovering the artifacts needed to restore magic. Voiced in the game by Marty Ingels

Brog - A small, blue-skinned, hairless troll-like creature, he is dim-witted, stupid, but strong and loves nothing else but to eat rocks. He unwittingly totemized himself when he broke into the Inquisition's facility within Steppinthrax Monastery, believing it to be a cave to hide in. Found by the player beyond the gates of Hades, he aids them in recovering the artifacts needed to restore magic. Voiced in the game by Earl Boen

The Inquisition liberates Port Foozle from magic and closes the Underground. That evening as a curfew is about to begin, the player character, a salesperson for the Frobozz Electric Company, arrives in Port Foozle and notices a strange glow coming from the docks. Investigating it, the player finds a lantern and takes it to a local pawn shop owned by Antharia Jack, a famous adventurer of the Underground, who offers to look into it, only for him to confiscate the lantern when it's discovered to have magic within it. After framing Jack for arson to get the lantern back, the player character finds it contains the imprisoned soul of the Dungeon Master, Dalboz of Gurth, who urges the player character to enter the Underground where they can talk safely. Once there, Dalboz names the player character "Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally Ambiguous Adventure Person" (or "AFGNCAAP" for short) and then asks them to help restore magic to the world, and stop The Grand Inquisitor, Mir Yannick, from purging it and taking control with a world of technology.

Aided by Lost Enchantress, Y'Gael, in the form of a spellbook, AFGNCAAP journeys across the underground, acquiring various spells, and soon learns that Yannick was a failed student of magic, which explains his reasons for wanting magic to be gone. Along the way, they also listen to a message left behind by the Wizard, Belboz, in the G.U.E. Tech university, revealing that three artifacts are needed to restore magic to Zork: the Cube of Foundation (representing Middle Magic), the Coconut of Quendor (representing High Magic), and the Skull of Yoruk (representing Deep Magic). All three were lost in time in specific locations, and the only way to reach them is travel to their location via time tunnels situated around the underground. Because doing so in person would be fatal, AFGNCAAP instead uses the totemized spirits of three magical beings - Griff, a cowardly, small dragon, Brog, a dim-witted but strong, small troll-like creature, and Lucy Flathead, a mind-reader and former magic resistance member - to retrieve the artifacts, with each getting their hands on a specific one in the past, and storing them in a Living Castle that Dalboz had been raising and which AFGNCAAP charms with magic. During her trip to Foozle's past, Lucy grows attached to Antharia Jack, who in turn falls in love with her but curses his luck when she is forced to leave the past.

In the present, Jack, who is saved from totemization by the player character's actions in destroying Flood Control Dam #3, unwittingly informs Yannick of what AFGNCAAP is using in the Underground, after the Grand Inquisitor fakes an emotional breakdown. Yannick captures them after the third artifact is found, to stop them interfering in his plans and quell any further action by magic resistance members. Thrown into jail at Port Foozle, Jack regrets what he did and decides to help AFGNCAAP, supplying a scroll to escape with, before AFGNCAAP helps him break out and recover their items. The pair escape from jail with the help of the Living Castle, which takes them to Flathead Mesa.

Once there, the player is told by Y'Gael to place the artifacts in specific levels of a radio tower situated on the Mesa. During this time, Yannick unveils a "radical new mind-numbing" piece of technology, called "Inquizivision" - a 500-channel, 24-hour TV network - which will secretly allow him to brainwash all of Quendor and cement his power. Yannick spots AFGNCAAP on the tower along with the coconut and tries to grab it. However, AFGNCAAP prevents this by casting a spell that fuses the three levels of magic stored in the artifacts. The resulting blast from the spell restores magic to the world of Zork, frees the totemized spirits from their imprisonment, erases all Inquisition posters, and sends Yannick falling to his death. AFGNCAAP is also knocked from the tower by the blast, but is rescued by Griff.

Now freed, Lucy shares an intimate moment with Jack, kissing him, before taking her rightful place as Queen of Quendor and announcing to the people of Foozle of the victory over the Inquisition, the restoration of magic to all, and the re-opening of the Underground. The game ends with Lucy naming AFGNCAAP as Dalboz's successor, and making them the new Dungeon Master, whilst making her second act to be an explanation to Jack about time travel.

The original release included a feelie poster with a timeline of the history of Zork up until the events of the game, with pictures and short descriptions of major events, including the backstory of some of the characters; this encompasses all released Zork games except Return to Zork, which takes place 580 years after Zork: Grand Inquisitor.

GameSpot said, "Compact and unspectacular as it is, Zork: Grand Inquisitor is a model of adventure gaming as good entertainment. Many of the genre's conventions (FMV, item hunting, absurdist humor) get polished to a high sheen here. It is funny and reflexive without being geeky or pointlessly ironic. The third-string actors exploit their comic trademarks to good effect. Real attention is paid to the pacing of the whole affair, so there are no overly quiet dead zones of tedious activity. And the puzzles are fun to solve rather than gratuitous brain-teasing exercises."[9]Adventure Classic Gaming said, "One of the more distinguished, entertaining games of the last several years, Zork Grand Inquisitor is light and amusing (and in some places, very funny). It strikes a good balance between its tone and subject matter. [...] Overall, Zork Grand Inquisitor is the best looking game among the next generation titles of the Zork series. While it is a very good adventure, it is not a very good Zork."[14]Destructoid wrote an article about it in the site's Games Time Forgot series, commenting "Not only is Zork: Grand Inquisitor a clever, well-written adventure game, but it's also one of the most singularly rewarding games a fan of Zork could ever play."[15]

Two sequels to Zork: Grand Inquisitor were announced in August 1997. According to the staff of PC Gamer US, the games would "continue the adventure and round out the series as the final two installments in a new Zork adventure trilogy."[19]